


Spark of Life

by AuroraCloud



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Character Death Fix, F/F, Fix-It, Friendship, Gen, Post-Season/Series 10, Pre-Femslash, References to S11 elements, Regeneration, canonical character death is Twelve's regeneration, nobody else dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-08-29 05:19:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16737856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraCloud/pseuds/AuroraCloud
Summary: Suddenly, it's the end for Bill's Doctor. Except that it's also a beginning, and Bill is there to see it.Canon divergence AU, where Bill didn't join the Doctor for that last fateful adventure in "World Enough and Time". Everything else from the Series 10 finale happens, but he comes back to her. And then there's an explosion of light and a blonde woman with a Yorkshire accent.





	Spark of Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shopfront](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/gifts).



> Thanks to unfeathered for beta-reading!

This was shaping out to be a pretty traumatic day, Bill thought as she sat on the TARDIS floor, cradling the Doctor’s familiar grey head in her lap. Strange lights were sparkling on his skin, like he was infested with fireflies or something. Worse, he was clearly dying. He had said as much when the TARDIS had landed in her flat and she’d opened the door to see him collapsed against a railing. 

She was crying silently as the Doctor smiled wearily at her. ”I’m glad I… listened to you… And didn’t take you along. Goodness knows what would have happened to you.” 

”What happened? Where’s Nardole?”

”Too long… He’s alive. But he had to stay behind, to look after some people.”

”Oh.” Bill smiled, thinking of Nardole. ”He’ll look after them all right. But what happened to you?” Suddenly, a thought came to her. ”Missy?”

The Doctor sighed, closed his eyes. ”I… I’m not sure. We… ran into her previous incarnation.”

”Her previous… what?”

”I told you, didn’t I? We Time Lords can change bodies. There was a previous… a previous Master. Her previous self. He caused trouble. She…” He grimaced.

”She joined him.”

”Yes. No. Maybe.” He frowned, tired. ”He was vanquished in the end. She had to be the one, didn’t she? But she didn’t come back.” He groaned, writhing in pain.

”Never mind that,” Bill said. ”Tell me how to help you.”

”Don’t worry. Just stay here.”

”I don’t want you to die!”

The Doctor lifted his hand, looked at the strange lights swirling, sparking in his skin. ”Perhaps I don’t have to.”

”Perhaps?”

”I can… choose to change. Then I don’t have to die. Or I die, but I’m reborn.”

”Then do it!”

The Doctor was silent for some time. ”I was thinking I wouldn’t, anymore.”

”Why on earth not? Are you crazy?”

”I’ve been this person for so long. I’ve had a life. To change again…” He looked up at Bill, and smiled. ”But now that I’m here… Back with you. I remember there’s still so much to fight for. So much to live for. Isn’t there?”

”Yes, there is,” Bill said. ”Don’t you dare go, don’t you dare go and die if you’ve got a choice.”

The Doctor sighed, and stared at the ceiling warily. ”I suppose… One more lifetime won’t kill anybody. Except me.” He closed his eyes. Then he opened again. ”Oh, and Bill?”

”Yes.”

”You should stay back. The process can be a bit… explosive. Get away, go somewhere safe.”

”I’m not leaving you.”

”Go to the other side of the room, at least. Quick! I can’t hold it back much longer.”

Bill gently moved the Doctor’s head off her lap, pressing a quick kiss on his hair, then got up and ran. She ran until she was on the other side of the console room, under the upper floor and holding onto a beam. She looked at the Doctor, who had stood up, leaned at the railing, and looked at her one more time, smiling. 

Then the lights exploded, and her Doctor was no more.

In his place was…

A pretty damn cute woman. 

Bill stared with her mouth open.

”Well?” the woman asked.

Bill closed her mouth. She opened it again. She gaped.

Finally, she said: ”Wow.”

The woman was grinning at her, slightly manically maybe, but also really super gorgeously. She looked like she was made of light. She was standing where the Doctor had been standing, and that she also seemed to be wearing the Doctor’s clothes.

Well, that was _weird_.

”Who are you?” she asked. The Doctor hadn’t said anything about strange women appearing.

”It’s still me, Bill,” the woman said. ”The Doctor.” She sounded… not Scottish anymore. Northern. Yorkshire? 

”Nonsense,” Bill said. ”You’re not the Doctor. The Doctor was just here and he’s this old grey-haired bloke.”

”And I’m not?” The blonde woman looked puzzled.

”…No.”

The woman grabbed a screen and turned it to her, and Bill realized what she was looking for: her reflection. When she saw it, she grinned with delight. ”Oh, brilliant!” Yup, definitely Yorkshire. 

Some part of Bill’s brain suggested that she should find this situation more concerning, not only mildly puzzling. The rest of her refused to catch up.

The woman turned to her, grinning. ”Oh, I’ve finally done it! So exciting! I thought I was stuck in male regenerations!” She pumped her fist in the air. ”Isn’t that wonderful, Bill? Now, let’s see…” The woman lunged towards the TARDIS controls, her face full of childish glee.

Suddenly Bill’s brain caught up. ”What do you mean you’re the Doctor?”

”Told you I was going to change, didn’t I?”

”But… You’re a woman now!” _And a fairly gorgeous one_ , Bill’s brain added, though thankfully her mouth didn’t voice the thought.

The woman paused, looking at her in a disappointed way. ”Oh, Bill, I thought you’d be less gender-essentialist. Didn’t I tell you that we Time Lords aren’t such stickers to that kind of stuff?”

”I guess.” Now that she thought about it, he had said that. 

Not fair. Quirky old Grandpa Professor wasn’t supposed to become Hot Lady. That was too much for Bill to handle.

But the lady just grinned. ”Now let’s go explore!” She lunged at the controls again and pressed a huge button.

Lights flashed. Alarms blared. The TARDIS rattled and shook, and tilted to one side. Bill slid-dropped and crashed against the console with a painful thud. ”Omph!” 

The lady Doctor was teetering on the floor and sliding towards the door, which was somehow open.

”Are you sure you were meant to press that?” Bill yelled. She couldn’t reach the woman, though she tried. Some papers flew out into the black sky above. At what point had they moved into the air?

”Can you reach the —” the woman let out a muffled sound as she fell to the floor at another lurch. ”The switch!”

The switch? Wait, there was a switch to close the door. The Doctor had shown her. Where was it? 

Wait, she could see it. If she could manage to drop onto the right part of the console… 

Eyes on the switch, Bill moved. The TARDIS lurched violently. The lady Doctor was scrambling for a hold. Bill half-slid, half-fell against the console — the door switch still out of reach — she could reach it — she pushed it, and fell.

Screaming and flailing, she fell through the air.

Bill heard a thud and an ”ow”, then slammed against something. ”Ouch!” 

”Ow!” said someone under her. 

Bill and the Doctor — guess she had to call the woman that now — had both fallen against the doorframe, and the doors were shut. The TARDIS began to dematerialize.

”Climb off me, will you?” the Doctor said.

Bill did as requested. She stared at the woman.

”So you’re really the Doctor?” she asked.

Warm brown eyes locked into hers, a smile spread over the unfamiliar features, lit by a familiar fire. ”Yeah. As far as I can tell. Head’s still a bit scrambled from regeneration, but yeah, that’s me. Hi, Bill.”

”Wow.” Bill clambered to her feet. ”Wicked.” 

 

 

About five seconds later, the TARDIS landed, opened her doors with a bang, lurched violently and spat both of them out. Then the doors banged shut. The Doctor rattled them, snapped her fingers, but to no avail.

The Doctor rummaged wildly through her pockets. ”No key! No sonic! I hate empty pockets!”

Bill stepped up and calmly fished her TARDIS key from under her blouse. 

”Oh, Bill, you’re a life-saver!” The Doctor rushed in and hugged her. Wow, this version was a lot more… huggy.

But when Bill tried to insert the key into the keyhole, the TARDIS zapped her, with sparks. ”Ow!”

”Hey now!” The Doctor took the key (still hanging off Bill’s neck) and tried to put it into the keyhole, but got another jolt. ”I say!” she said, glaring at the blue box. ”What are you up to, old girl?”

”Well, you did go all explodey inside her,” Bill pointed out. ”Maybe she didn’t like it.”

The Doctor stopped and grimaced. ”Might be. One time I regenerated inside her, she crashed right into someone’s garden. Mind you, that turned out great in the end, but she was very… temperamental for a while.” The Doctor sighed. ”Well, I don’t think she’s going anywhere. Maybe we’ll just let her be and see where we are.”

”Hang on,” Bill said. ”Why do you sound like you’re from Yorkshire?”

”I do?” The Doctor cocked her head. ”I dunno. I think this mouth likes it. Just like the last one liked Scottish. Damn, I wish Jamie had heard that.” She chuckled.

”Who’s Jamie?”

”Oh, he’s…” She became a little unfocused. ”Someone I knew long ago. Let’s not go there.” She grabbed Bill’s arm. ”Look, there’s a railway! We follow the railway, we’re bound to end up somewhere.”

It ended up a bit more complicated than that, because after a few minutes of walking, the Doctor started emitting more glowy bits, and suddenly collapsed. When she revived, it was getting dark. And of course after that, they couldn’t help stumbling upon an adventure.

 

 

It was almost 24 hours later when they made it back to the TARDIS, tired but well-fed by that nice couple, and the Doctor clutching a brand new sonic screwdriver that she had made _herself_ , and oh, hadn’t that been damn sexy. And no, Bill was really _not_ going to think about the word sexy in connection to the Doctor, even if the Doctor was suddenly a gorgeous blonde woman (a bit like Heather, Bill thought with a moment of wistfulness) who welded her own screwdriver like a badass queen of time. Come to think of it, the screwdriver looked like it could have some interesting uses…

Geez, she was _really_ not going there.

Bill cleared her throat, even though (hopefully) her thoughts hadn’t been heard aloud. 

Now that she had cleared her throat and the Doctor was looking at her, she probably should say something. ”Think the TARDIS will let us in now?”

”Hope so. If not, I’ll think of something. Maybe grovel. I wonder if she’d be offended if I tried the screwdriver on her hinges.” The Doctor looked at it thoughtfully, then put it in her coat pockets. Oh, that coat was pretty awesome, even if her outfit was frankly ridiculous. 

But then the Doctor gave Bill a smile that just made her melt.

”That was brilliant work, Bill,” the Doctor said warmly. ”You were so helpful.”

”Aww,” Bill said, and elbowed her. ”I’m sure you’d have been fine, with all those awesome people.”

The Doctor grinned. ”They were awesome, weren’t they? But if you hadn’t been there to pilot the crane with Yaz, I’d have had to ask Ryan. Who knows what would’ve happened to Grace if he hadn’t been with her.”

”But they’re fine.”

”Yeah, they’re fine.” The Doctor mused. ”They’re nice, all four.” 

”D’you wanna show them the universe?” She couldn’t decide how she felt about that. She’d liked them, but she also wanted to keep the Doctor to herself for a little while.

The Doctor shrugged. ”I can come back to check on them. Invite myself over for tea or something. But now?” She took Bill’s hand. ”I’m just happy to have you around.”

A few brain circuits melted down in Bill’s head. ”Oh.”

The Doctor stopped. She looked at Bill, still holding on her hand, fidgeting. ”Is that right? Do I still have you?” 

And suddenly, Bill realized the Doctor was anxious. Well, that was new.

She swallowed. ”Yes, yes you do.”

Oh, didn’t she just.

The Doctor smiled, like a sudden sunrise. ”Brilliant.”

”Hey, what’s that?” Bill poked the Doctor in the arm. ”You’re expressing emotions and asking me if I still want to be around and you’re… not arrogant. What happened to you?”

She shrugged. ”Oh, just… New body, new outlook on life. You know?”

”I… don’t, actually,” Bill said. ”Never tried that.”

”Oh. Right. Humans.”

”It’s also… That last adventure. I had to leave Nardole behind, and the stuff with Missy…” She went distant, sad. ”I was so close to taking you with me, and you’d probably have _died_ there. It all just… makes me think, you know.” 

Bill took both of the Doctor’s hands in hers, warmed them between her palms. ”Yeah. I know.”

The Doctor smiled, her eyes sparkling with possibilities again. ”Come on then! The TARDIS is just over the hill! Race you!” And she ran.

Bill laughed. ”Haven’t we done enough running lately?” She dashed after the Doctor, breathless more for laughter than for the running. 

 

 

In the end, the TARDIS opened for the Doctor even without the key. And holy moly, she had redecorated and was gorgeous.

”Whoah,” Bill said, looking around and around and the crystals, the golden-amber hexagon roundels, the intricate console with its hourglass and goodness knew what instruments. ”It’s… it’s…”

”Not like a kitchen anymore, huh?” The Doctor was leaning proudly against the console.

”Nope. It’s like… Oh, I don’t even know. She’s…” Bill looked at the beautiful little hourglass on the console and grinned. ”Well, she’s like a timeship!”

”Damn right she is,” the Doctor said, patting the console proudly. ”So, Bill Potts… Are you ready to join me and my TARDIS on our adventures in space and time?”

Bill reached across the console and clasping her hand. ”Hell yeah.”

”It’ll be dangerous.” 

”I know. I don’t care. I mean, I reserve the right to sit out when I want to, but I want to go out there and see. To travel with you.”

”You don’t mind that I changed?” The Doctor gestured at her new form, and looked at her uncertainly, hopefully.

Bill’s mouth went dry at that look. ”I’ll never forget the previous you. I’ll miss him. But I don’t regret having this you.” Mildly said. Oh, she was going to be in so much trouble. ”Besides, if you hadn’t changed, you’d have died. And I wouldn’t have accepted that.”

For a moment, they just looked at each other, and Bill felt something flicker in the air between them. Just _how_ much had the Doctor changed? 

Then the Doctor let go of her hand and whirled around, busying herself at an instrument that Bill hadn’t yet had time to look at. ”Brilliant. So…” She turned back to Bill, grinning, and holding out something at her. ”Fancy a custard cream?”

Bill took it, and a spark passed between them as their hands touched. ”Yes, I fancy.”


End file.
